One of the
best concerts I have been to in a long time was
on my recent trip to Kansas City. The Madrid Theater,
formerly rundown, but newly refurbished it hosted
one of Punk’s best bands, The Damned and their
touring opening bands, Tsunami Bomb and Tiger Army.
The
Madrid Theatre
My
fashionably late self arrived at the Madrid while
Tsunami Bomb was ending their set. I liked the few
songs I heard, so I scouted out female lead singer
Agent M and guitarist Dominic later in the “for
bands only” section, and we shared a few words
while they autographed my CD. This was the last
show they would be playing with the Damned and heading
to St Louis, then Europe for the first part of the
year. Looks like they will be touring awhile before
getting a vacation. I asked them how the other bands
were and Dominic said The Damned and Tiger Army
had been great to them. I like to know what musicians
are listening to and asked if they had seen or played
with a band that stood out and both simultaneously
replied “The Stand”. Will power pop
take over? Hmmmm.
While I was chatting it up with Agent
M and Dominic, Tiger Army took the stage. I am not
a huge Tiger Army fan, that doesn’t make them
bad or good. I am not a huge punkabilly listener.
Ask my brother-in-law and he will fight you to the
death on Tiger Army’s greatness. It’s
just not for me. Aside from that, their stage presence
was great with the bass player hopping on his stand
up bass and riding it like a wild pony across the
stage.
The crème de la crème
was The Damned. How does one top this band? Been
around since punk was a naughty thing and still
outdoing any mainstream radio imitators with fresh
sound. Singer Dave Vanian has an Elvis swagger with
a gothic touch, the uniqueness of his voice make
him sing as cool as he looks. Most songs were from
the most recent release “ Grave Disorder”
and of course the “Strawberries” and
“Machine Gun Etiquette” albums. I have
had “Grave Disorder” on rotation for
about a year. It’s in my top twenty albums.
Johnny Scum and I stuck to Captain Sensible’s
side. We got up front because the too cool Goths
were hanging back. Well I happen to look conservative,
(kind of preppy, kind of punk) it’s how I
get back stage most people think I am an agent or
manager. This was not lost on the Captain who pointed
his finger down at me and said. “ I think,
madam, you should buy the album”. Johnny pulled
two copies of “Grave Disorder” from
his pocket that we had purchased at the show (for
gifts), then he went into my favorite song “
Song.com” and we all sang it together. At
the end of the song he took one of our beers, lifted
his glass to us and proceeded to down it. The Damned
invited both opening bands on stage for the last
few songs for an all band a jam session. I could
see the respect and admiration shared among the
musicians as they sang “She” together.
The
Damned then.....
Then
end of the evening was topped off as we were heading
back to our car and Johnny saw Dave Vanian crossing
the parking lot. He shouted “Hey Dave”
and Vanian turned and waved. Next The Captain came
out the side door and we stopped him at the stairs.
I teased him that about his earlier comment and
he laughed. I asked him while he signed my CDs what
he was listening to these days. He said with the
diction of an English school headmaster, “
Oddly enough the Cowsills, it was back when music
was happy.”
The
Damned now
Want to find out more about the bands
in this article? Visit these websites:
www.nitrorecords.net/damned.html
www.tsunamibomb.com
www.tigerarmy.com
www.madridtheater.com/index.asp
Got
a bitch about my article, or do you just plain love
me?
rants@publicitywhore.com
want
your band featured on Publicity Whore?
Email
to josh@publicitywhore
